ALBANY — University at Albany sophomore quarterback Will Fiacchi checks his phone about an hour before kickoff, just before he takes the field for warmups.

He'll see an encouraging text from Dan Di Lella, his good friend, who started ahead of Fiacchi last year. It's a reversal of last season's routine, when Fiacchi was the one sending inspirational messages to Di Lella's phone.

"I sent him a little text, 'Hey, go do what we know you can do,' " Fiacchi recalled. "'Everybody believes and everybody trusts you. You're the one that's going to lead this team.' He's done the same thing for me this (season). You get a text and you read through it and it gives you that little extra bit of confidence, that extra pick-me-up right before the game."

Fiacchi has done a more than capable job of replacing Di Lella, who graduated after earning Northeast Conference Offensive Player of the Year honors.

With Fiacchi at the controls, 18th-ranked UAlbany (7-1, 5-0) is on the verge of repeating as NEC champion entering Saturday's game against second-place Wagner (5-3, 5-1) at University Field.

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At a glance

WAGNER at UALBANY

When, where: 1 p.m. Saturday, University Field

Radio: WOFX (980 AM)

The Great Danes can clinch the championship, and an automatic NCAA playoff bid, with a victory over the Seahawks combined with a Duquesne loss to Robert Morris. UAlbany has three regular-season games remaining.

Di Lella, speaking from his home in New Jersey, said he sees Fiacchi as a cerebral player who's effective at running the high-powered UAlbany offense.

"Will's that guy who's not going to wow you all the time, but he's going to be consistent and hit his accurate passes,'' Di Lella said. "Then on first-and-10, he'll go downfield, just like we did last year."

The Great Danes are averaging a league-leading 34.2 points per game with Fiacchi, slightly better than the 33.7 under Di Lella last season.

That would have seem far-fetched in the preseason. Fiacchi, who had never started a college game, got the job after returning junior Buddy Leathley left the program for academic reasons.

"To gain respect, you always have to prove to people you belong," Fiacchi said. "Obviously, some people might have thought I was handed this position and I wanted to make sure people knew that I believed this was going to be my position whether people were here or weren't here."

Fiacchi has earned his teammates' confidence by throwing for 1,671 yards and nine touchdowns against four interceptions this season. Despite playing with a broken bone in his foot, Fiacchi has completed 60.3 percent of his passes, second-best among NEC quarterbacks.

UAlbany offensive coordinator Ryan McCarthy said Fiacchi has a similar intellect to Di Lella, and in any case, the UAlbany playbook is kept fairly simple. McCarthy said Fiacchi has become more receptive to criticism from the coaches.

"Coming in, we knew (Fiacchi) was going to have good people around him," said McCarthy, also the associate head coach. "I don't know if we thought he was going to develop this quickly. He's gaining more confidence with each game."

McCarthy couldn't answer with certainty whether Fiacchi would have won the starting job if Leathley had stayed.

"I don't know if I can say that, but I can say this," McCarthy said. "Coming out of spring, I knew where the ball was going with Will Fiacchi with the ball in his hands. With Buddy Leathley, I didn't always know."

With Fiacchi, the UAlbany offense would appear to be in good hands for the foreseeable future.

"Geez, he's got two more years," head coach Bob Ford said. "I'd say his best years are ahead of him."